PRESS BRIEFING BY THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE, FCT COMMAND ABUJA, CP HARUNA G. GARBA psc WITH OTHER HEADS OF SISTER SECURITY AGENCIES IN THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY DATED
15TH NOVEMBER, 2023.

PROTOCOL…...

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press

It is with great pleasure and privilege that I welcome you all to the FCT Police Command this morning to brief you on the successes recorded by the Joint Task Force of Operation safe FCT in the last two weeks commencing from 28/10/2023 to 12/11/2023.

2. You may recall that the Joint Task Force of Operation safe FCT was launched by the Honourable Minister of FCT, Chief (Barr). Ezenwo Nyesom Wike CON, to flush out criminal elements out of the Federal Capital Territory most especially the armed hoodlums disturbing the peace of the residents of the FCT who reside at our boundaries with Niger, Nassarawa, Kogi and Kaduna state. In line with the mandate of the operation, the Joint Task Force comprising of the NPF, Military, NSCDC and DTRS carried out coordinated raids of criminal hideouts, uncompleted buildings, shanties and of course clearance operations in the bushes and forest bordering the FCT.

3. In the course of the operation, the joint Task Force arrested one hundred and thirty five (135) suspects at various black spots located at; Kwali, Dutse Alhaji, Mpape, Karu, AYA, Nyaya, Karimo, Karshi, Kuje, Airport road, Berger Roundabout, Jabi, Orozo and Mararaba etc. That out of these numbers, seventy five (75) suspects were arraigned in court for various offences, while sixty five were sentenced to pay fine ranging from N5000 – N7000, the remaining ten were sentenced to community service.

4. It is a pleasure to inform you that the 39 suspects we are parading today have been under interrogation and will be charged to court at the conclusion of the investigation. Out of this number, eight ( suspects are suspected to be members of one chance syndicate, as knives, handcuffs and swords were recovered from their vehicles with the following registration numbers;

A red Golf car with Reg No. ER 09

Ash coloured Nissan Almeira with Reg No. YAB 679 HG

A navy blue golf Car with no Number Plate

A white Mercedes GLK with Reg No. BWR 238 AY

A brown Mazda with Reg No. KWL 886 AX

A red Golf car with Reg No. BRN 1000 GWZ

A white coloured Carina E with Reg No. KW 196 MD

A white Salon car with Reg No. BSI 9719 Basa Plateau

5. In the course of the two weeks operation, fifty four (54) vehicles have been impounded. A substantial number of the vehicles are without number plates, others with tinted glasses, others with only plate numbers in front while others has only plate numbers at the back. Offending drivers/owners of these vehicles will soon be arraigned in court. In addition, two (2) locally fabricated guns, one locally made berretta pistol, one revolver double barrel gun with two live cartridges were recovered. Also recovered are three (3) full bags of leaves suspected to be cannabis sativa and quite a number of wraps of Indian hemp and illicit drugs.

6. I am happy to inform you that the incidence of one chance, armed robbery and abduction have reduced significantly in the last two weeks in the FCT since the launch of the operation.

I wish to reiterate the commitment of the Joint Task Force to aggressively flush out miscreants from the FCT.

I equally enjoin the good people of FCT to remain vigilant and report suspicious activities to the Police and other law enforcement agencies. Your cooperation is required if we must defeat crime and criminality.

Thank you all for listening.

M